


The more that you say, the less i know (wherever you stray, i follow)

by Tonystarkisadad



Series: the story of us [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Annabeth Chase - Freeform, Annabeth has trauma, Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson), Canon Compliant, F/M, Healing, I'm obsessed with Annabeth's character and I want more backstory and development, Not too heavy though, Oneshot, Short One Shot, Trust, percabeth, percy is a good friend, so here is me providing that, sort of a drabble?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28423662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonystarkisadad/pseuds/Tonystarkisadad
Summary: “Luke.” She staggered backwards from the open door, halfheartedly reaching for her dagger. He wouldn’t hurt her like this, would he? Kill her in cold blood in the name of war?“Annabeth, wait!” He raised his arms in surrender. “I swear on the Styx, I’m not armed. I just…I need to talk to you. Please.” His pleading eyes met hers, soft and round.Even with the oath, her instincts were telling her to get away. Get out of the situation. The last thing she wanted was a one-on-one confrontation with Luke. “What about?” she asked suspiciously, still several steps into the house. Good thing her family wasn’t home. She’d have a hard time explaining this one.“Can we…” he faltered. “Can we talk outside?”“So your forces can sneak up on us and attack me?” she asked bitterly.His eyes widened. “No! No, no. There’s no one here but me. They—They don’t know I’m here, Annabeth. I need your help.” His eyes searched hers desperately.OR, the time in botl Luke shows up at Annabeth's door.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan & Annabeth Chase
Series: the story of us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078547
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	The more that you say, the less i know (wherever you stray, i follow)

**Author's Note:**

> part two of series where I write fics off random Taylor lyrics

_The more that you say, the less i know (wherever you stray, i follow)_

“Luke.” She staggered backwards from the open door, halfheartedly reaching for her dagger. He wouldn’t hurt her like this, would he? Kill her in cold blood in the name of war?

“Annabeth, wait!” He raised his arms in surrender. “I swear on the Styx, I’m not armed. I just…I need to talk to you. Please.” His pleading eyes met hers, soft and round.

Even with the oath, her instincts were telling her to get away. Get out of the situation. The last thing she wanted was a one-on-one confrontation with Luke. “What about?” she asked suspiciously, still several steps into the house. Good thing her family wasn’t home. She’d have a hard time explaining this one.

“Can we…” he faltered. “Can we talk outside?”

“So your forces can sneak up on us and attack me?” she asked bitterly.

His eyes widened. “No! No, no. There’s no one here but me. They—They don’t know I’m here, Annabeth. I need your help.” His eyes searched hers desperately.

She swallowed, fighting to keep her mental walls up. She would not fall for any of his tricks. “I’m not going to help you.”

“Annabeth, please.” Luke stepped forward, and she automatically took a step back. “I want out. I didn’t realize—Annabeth, you have no idea. I see it now. He’s using me. I can’t escape it. He’s going to destroy me.”

Her brain was already spinning, trying to decipher what was true and what wasn’t. If—she forced herself to think the “if”—if this was true, what did Kronos want with Luke?

She forced that thought into the background, like minimizing a tab. Still running, but not what was at hand. “I could’ve told you that,” she said instead. At some point, she’d let go of her dagger and instead had crossed her arms across her chest defensively.

Luke nodded. “I know. I was stupid, Annabeth. I was. I just…I can’t get myself out of this one. And you’re the only one I have.”

She swallowed. “You abandoned me,” she said, fighting to keep her voice matter-of-fact. “You betrayed me. Over and over. You can’t just show up-” Her voice broke, and she stopped her speech abruptly. She would not let him see her cry. Not over him.

His face fell. “I know, Annabeth. I- I know I failed you. I’m sorry.” His voice broke. Annabeth had only seen Luke cry once, when Thalia died. For a long moment, she entertained the idea he was being genuine. Emotionally, she didn’t want to think so. Easier to demonize him in her brain, imagine him with no remorse. It made it easier to hate him.

Logically, though, she was beginning to wonder. He was unarmed. He’d made no move to hurt her, nor had any monsters shown up. Yet.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said quietly.

“I know it doesn’t. Gods, I know.” He ran a hand through his sandy blond hair, a nervous habit he’d picked up nearly a decade before. “But Annabeth, he’s not gonna take no for an answer. I’m not going to have a choice. I don’t want to fight you. Please.” He took her hand desperately, and she just stared at it. “Please, please, Annabeth. Help me get out of this. We can go somewhere far, get as far as we can. We don’t have to be a part of this anymore. I can’t get away without your help, and you know I can’t go back to Camp.” His eyes were dead serious, his mouth set in a line. She noticed for the first time that some gray speckled his blond hair, despite the fact he was only in his twenties. “Annabeth, I need you.”

_I need you._

She felt her walls tumbling down. It didn’t matter what Luke had done, what he had said, how he had hurt her. He’d saved her, in many senses of the word. He’d protected her and been there for her when she needed someone the most. No amount of betrayal could undo that. How could she send him off to his death, send him to help Kronos, when he wanted to step back? How could she make him her enemy all over again?

“I…” she didn’t know what she was going to say. She wanted to say yes, but the words died in her throat. “I can’t just leave the fight up to everyone else, Luke. I can’t abandon people like that.”

“Why not?” he pushed, staring right through her. “It’s not your prophecy, Annabeth. It doesn’t have to be your fight.”

Not her prophecy. Suddenly the image of a boy with black hair and bright green eyes came to the foreground of her mind. Sitting next to her at the bonfire, riding in the chariot next to her, standing shoulder to shoulder in battle. Her mind flashed back to the first time she’d really talked to him, back when they thought the gods might split into a war themselves. ‘I don’t know whose side my mom will take,’ she’d said. ‘I just know I’ll fight next to you.’

She’d meant it, too. Family meant next to nothing to Annabeth. She’d never really had one, even when she thought she did. But Percy was her friend, and she knew deep in her gut that he would never consider leaving her to fight alone. It may not be her prophecy, but it might as well have been. His fight was her fight.

She felt her eyes filling up with tears, and she looked anywhere but at the boy before her. The boy that had hurt her so irreparably. She had to believe not everyone would do that to her. She had to, or she would go crazy. And by the gods, she wasn’t going to hurt someone the same way. She refused to be responsible for deserting someone the way she’d been deserted.

“I can’t, Luke,” she said, her voice so soft she could hardly hear herself. “I think you know that.”

“Annabeth, please.” He dropped her hand. She felt his gaze on her, but she refused to meet it. “This is my last chance.”

“You shouldn’t have come,” she said, suddenly finding her voice. “Please leave, Luke. Please. I’m sorry.” Her voice caught on the last word, but she refused to give in. Not to her tears, and not to Luke. She stared stubbornly at the hole in her left sock, right below the ankle. Anywhere that wasn’t him.

When he finally spoke, he sounded far away. “If that’s what you want.”

“I do.”

He took in a breath, like he was about to say something else, but thought the better of it.

Annabeth didn’t look up until the door clicked closed.


End file.
